Attorney General puts focus on police training in mass shootings

Attorney General says local police must sometimes be the first law enforcement officers to fire back in mass shootings

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder says local police must sometimes be the first law enforcement officers to fire back in mass shootings and must receive intense training and the best equipment to handle such events.

The attorney general says authorities don't always have the luxury of time to get their most highly trained officers on the scene.

In remarks prepared for delivery to a law enforcement conference in Philadelphia, Holder says that in the past decade, the Justice Department has helped train 50,000 front-line officers and over 3,000 local, state and federal agency heads on how to respond to active shooters.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press

Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.